In this week’s portion, Vayetzei, it is written about Yaacov, “Va’yifga ba’makom…” which is translated in Artscroll as:
“He [Yaacov] encountered the place…”
Rashi says on those words, “The verse does not mention which place, but ‘the place’ is… Mount Moriah about which is said ‘And he [Avraham] saw the place from afar.’”
Then Rashi goes on to translate “va’yifga” as “encountered”. And immediately after, Rashi brings another translation, translating va’yifga as “prayer”:
“And our Rabbis explained that it is an expression of ‘prayer’ like ‘Tifga’ [do not beseech me] and it has taught us [that Yaacov] instituted the Maariv prayer.”
Surprisingly, Rashi does not say that this is another translation; there is no transition. Rashi seems to be saying that va’yifga means two things simultaneously: that Yaacov avienu “encountered” and “prayed”.
But grammatically this creates a major problem. An encounter is an occurrence, but prayer is an action. You can say that Yaacov “encountered the place”, or you can say that Yaacov “prayed in the place”. But it is impossible to say that Yaacov “prayed the place”. That’s not a statement! And yet, this is exactly what Rashi seems to be saying.
So, how is this resolved? It is possible that it can be understood from the previously cited instance of Makom, the place. Rashi, citing a Midrash in Bereishis Rabba teaches us that Avraham knew that this was the place because he “saw a cloud affixed to the mountain”.
To Avraham, it was obviously the place. Avraham and Yitzchak saw “a beautiful mountain with a cloud affixed to it”, but when Avraham asked the servants what they saw, the servants said “Nothing at all.” And so, Avraham left the servants and the donkey behind.
Perhaps this is what is meant by “va’yifga”, spiritually awesome and significant encounters are only possible when one knows how to see. “And Avraham lifted his eyes and saw the place from afar.” Prayer helps us to perceive the spiritual splendor of our surroundings and to act appropriately. Perhaps Yaacov “prayed the place” into perceivable reality:
“And Yaacov awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely Hashem is in this place and I did not know!” And he became frightened and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of G-d and this is the gate of the heavens!”
At the Russian military academy, a general gave a lecture on “Potential Problems and Military Strategy.” At the end of the lecture, he asked if there were any questions. An officer stood up and asked, “Will there be a third world war? Will Russia take part in it?” The general answered both questions in the affirmative. The officer asked, “Who will be the enemy?” The general replied, “All indications point to China .” All in the audience were shocked.
classic work on practical Kabbalah!:
translation of the Talmud Bavli (written in Aramaic) into English, Hebrew and French:
